Poll: American voters’ support of Israel drops

JERUSALEM (JTA) — American voters’ support for Israel has dropped 20 percent in the past nine months, a new survey found.

Some 49 percent of American voters call themselves supporters of Israel, down from 69 percent last September, according to the poll conducted for The Israel Project.

The number of voters who called themselves undecided rose during that same period, and the number of Palestinian supporters remained steady at 7 percent. The number of Israel supporters hit a low of 38 percent immediately following the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, with an equal rise in undecided voters.

The poll was conducted among 800 registered voters on June 2 and 3 by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. It has not been officially released by The Israel Project, but was leaked to the media by someone who received the numbers the day after the poll was completed.

According to the poll, some 44 percent of voters believe the United States should support Israel, down from 69 percent a year ago. Some 5 percent of voters believe the United States should support the Palestinians, with 32 percent undecided.

Some 23 percent of voters believed that Israel should return all lands captured in 1967, with 57 percent saying some should be retained for security.

Some 66 percent of those polled do not believe that Israeli support of a two-state solution — including establishing an independent Palestinian state and stopping the expansion of settlements — will bring lasting peace to the region, with 22 percent saying it will. In addition, 48 percent believe the Israeli support would not end Palestinian terrorism; 39 percent said it would.

Some 85 percent of respondents believe that Iran is a serious threat to Israel, with only 7 percent saying it is not — figures that have remained virtually unchanged over the past year.